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Nassau's mad forts builder
WHAT-TO-DO - NASSAU, CABLE BEACH & PARADISE ISLAND - JAN 2005
Nassau's mad forts builder
Lots of forts, no battles
There are 12 old fortifications on New Providence and Paradise Island, dating back to the 18th century when France, Britain, Spain, and the fledgling United States, were all jostling for ownership and control of The Bahamas? 700-plus islands.
Most of these sites are of interest only to history buffs (for the record, they can be found at Winton, Blue Hills, South West Bay Street, Old Fort Bay, Potter?s Cay and the former Hog Island, now appropriately renamed Paradise Island) but three are a lot of fun to see, as well as educational. They?re worth a visit, even if you?re here for only a few hours.
The top three
The forts are, from east to west, Fort Montagu, on the Montagu foreshore on East Bay Street (completed in 1742), Fort Fincastle beside the water tower at the top of Elizabeth Avenue (1793), and Fort Charlotte, by far the most imposing, on the escarpment overlooking the cricket field, Arawak Cay and the western entrance to Nassau Harbour (1787).
You can easily find the forts in the Bahamas Trailblazer Maps, available free all over town.
Fort Montagu was built to protect the eastern approaches to the harbour. Named for the Duke of Montagu, it was built by a man named Peter Henry Bruce from local limestone on the site of an earlier fort built in the 1720s. Governor John Tinker laid the fort?s cornerstone on June 10, 1741.
While it seems a modest fortification today, Montagu?s 18-, 9-and 6-pound cannon (meaning the guns could fire a ball of that weight one mile) could easily rake any approaching hostile ship.
Alas, the fort could not be protected from a land-based force and it was captured in 1776 by an American raiding party that included war hero John Paul Jones. Some early maps of Nassau refer to Fort Montagu as the Eastern Redoubt.
Shape of a paddleboat
Fort Fincastle was built atop Bennett?s Hill, near the majestic Queen?s Staircase (which is 66 steps, one for each year of Queen Victoria?s reign ? although that story isn?t believed by all historians).
Fort Fincastle is built in the shape of a paddle-wheel steamer, probably due to the eccentricities of the man it?s named after, Viscount Fincastle, a doubly titled British Peer. Viscount Fincastle is also known as Lord Dunmore, a strange and prolific fort builder who has been described as ?possibly the most eccentric man in Bahamian history.? The fort carried big guns, 32-, 24- and 12-pounders.
Lord Dunmore is best known for building Fort Charlotte, which is really three forts in one: Fort Stanley at the east end, the middle section, and Fort D?Arcy at the west end. Lord Dunmore named that portion after royal engineer John D?Arcy who was sent out from London to finish Fort Charlotte after Lord Dunmore had run up ruinous cost overruns.
D?Arcy hated his namesake, incidentally, considering it a military monstrosity. Maybe so, but it?s a wonderful bit of history to explore while you are in Nassau.
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